Caveat Emptor

20/20 Foresight is something that everyone loves to have. 20/20 hindsight is something that is much more achievable. Steve Jobs famous quote below highlights a useful point about uncertainties of the future and how to plan your journey forward in an unknowable future.   Quote   You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Unquote  For a invetment / personal finance blog that is crowded out by personalities seeking to pursue financial freedom and flaunt their CPF statements, the fact that a high capital base is required to achieve FF is grossly neglected. Much is discussed in the investment blogger space about ways to min/max spending and savings, but mere mortals still need to focus on increasing their reliable income through their career / side jobs to build...

Position Assessment and Career Assessment. This is not a post on investment analysis. But the tenets of objective and rational reasoning stands. When you enter the interview phase of a fresh job position, one will generally be positive about the future outlook of the industry and the organization as a whole. Due to the nature of Singapore politics and lack of union power, a job interview is generally a market maker's game. The negotiating power is much higher at the market maker (Company) rather than the market taker's (employee end). Most employees will employ a certain amount of qualitative scuttlebutt analysis to learn everything about the industry, company as well as quantitative metrics such as leave, medical benefits, dental, bonuses etc before negotiating and securing a position in that company. The grass always appears greener on the other side. There will always be a certain amount of expectations mismatch from an outsider compared to an insider. Every employee i...

Every day, a small Ant arrives at work very early and starts work immediately.  She produces a lot and she was happy. The Chief, a Tiger, was surprised to see that the Ant was working without supervision. He thought if the Ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn’t she produce even more if she had a supervisor! So he recruited a Bee who had extensive experience as supervisor and who was famous for writing excellent reports. The Bee’s first decision was to set up a clocking in attendance system. He also needed a secretary to help him write and type his reports and he recruited a Rabbit , who managed the archives and monitored all phone calls.   The Tiger was delighted with the Bee's reports and asked him to produce graphs to describe production rates and to analyse trends, so that he could use them for presentations at Board‘s meetings. So the Bee had to buy a new computer and a Laser printer and recruited a Cat to manage the IT department. The An...

How to prevent dishonesty 1) dishonesty does not necessary sten from cost benefit analysis, or probability of getting caught 2) clear segreGation of duties to prevent conflict of interest 3) personal values - unable to rationalise it 4) precedent of dishonest act, on personal level or organisational culture 5) whistleblowing policy to catch others 6) cultivate a culture of honesty and integrity (signing pledges, constant moral re 7) severe penalties and removal of incentives for cheat 8) periods of stress depletion and fatigue 9) pledge or sign (at start of document) to confirm honesty at all times 10) constant moral reminders 11) supervision

How to Increase your chances in each interview 1) Connect with the hiring manager. If he likes you, he will give you a chance. Find common grounds by investigating his background and pull up similar points of interest 2) What the companies does. Products and services i) Industry, lines of business ii) biggest competitors iii) Remember interviewer names and USE THEM iv)  Give compliments about the person / environment v) Details about the job description Strategy in self introduction i) Elevator pitch ii) 3 key points iii) conclusion Points to take note i) Speak slowly, memorise elevator speech (2-3 minutes) ii) improvise thereon iii) Only use your allies / someone you can trust as references iv) First Impression is everything

One of my colleagues in ML introduced me to the Toastmaster community. At that point of time, I had heard of this organisation but is sceptical about it at first. The high membership fee (natural barriers of entry) and guest fees, and the unlikelihood of getting slots to speak up had been the major turn-off for me at the onset. Despite my initial apprehension about this community, she promised me to bring me as a guest to Chang Kat Toastmasters free of charge.  The futility of Work life and job hunts are pretty depressing and I largely feel unaccomplished. Everyone has to get drunk on something, otherwise they can't keep going. Since there is no risk or cost of participating, I decided to give it a run. The people around me are seemingly unremarkable. And yet when it is their time to speak, I can see an immediate transformation within them. How the quiet and introverted, can dazzle others with resounding ideas and confidence. And I got hooked. 1) Selling and speaking skills 2...